Oakton Outlook 2008-2009 Issue 3

Oakton Outlook 2008-2009 Issue 3

Issue 3 of the oakton outlook for 2008-2009

﻿10.29.08
What should you be doing to further your college process?
alex straton copy editor
alex. straton@oaktonmedia.net
feature
page 07
Alum wins Virginia AP Award
• • • • •
I
katherine telford staff writer
katherine.telford@oaktonmedia.net
senior
• •
Continue development of résumé and personal preferences. Continue activities begun in previous years. Attend college fair and college night programs in October. Meet with college representatives who visit the school in the fall. Register and take the SAT, the ACT, the TOEFL and the SAT Subject Tests by December. Continue or begin working on college appliations. For early decision, early action or ROTC scholarships, submit application by October or November deadlines.
Looking through the college books offered in the Career Center, senior Alexis Chaung looks up questions she has regarding college, taking advantage of the resources. “I normally go [to the Career Center] during lunch with a couple of friends to read,” Chaung said. “I think that reading the material will give you the answers, so I’ve been reading basic books about colleges.”
t’s almost November and many students are already feeling pressure from their AP classes and worrying about the exam they will take at the end of the school year. The highest score a student can receive on an AP exam is a 5, which is doubtlessly the goal of those who have spent their entire year preparing. Tom Nysetvold, a 2008 Oakton graduate, took 19 AP exams throughout his four years at Oakton and received fives on all of them. Due to this outstanding achievement he received the AP State Scholar Award for the state of Virginia. Of the 19 exams he took, Tom learned 7 of the subjects on his own, a decision he made after his AP World teacher, Mrs. Knight, suggested he take the AP Euro exam during his sophomore year. “I knew you had to get AP credits so it would get a lot of work out of the way in college and it was something to do,” Tom said. Tom graduated with 96 college
credits, more than triple the credits needed to graduate. “I found out about the AP State Scholar Exam during my junior year and thought it sounded cool. I just said, ok, I’ll do a few this year and see how it’s going next year,” Tom said. This is enough to make many AP students jealous as many spend so much time preparing for just one
that by the time I’d already studied those there was not much left to study,” Tom said. Teachers would probably like to think that taking the actual course is necessary but Tom disagreed. “It didn’t really make a difference for me because of how I study,” Tom said. “If you read a lot on your own, you’ll do better in the classroom. A long time before I was doing this stuff I was just reading People probably overestimate how much like crazy.” work I was doing. For example, I spent A lot of AP students are probably about five hours studying for AP wondering if taking these English. classes will help them when they get to university or not - tom nysetvold, class of ‘08 and whether or not the stress pays off. exam. “You definitely get a lot of “People probably overestimate how experience taking tests but the thing much work I was doing. For example, that helps the most is being able I spent probably about five hours to learn things without a teacher studying for AP English,” Tom said. teaching myself learning things Being that Tom took so many outside of class.” exams, he was able to compare the Tom is now attending Brigham exams and which ones he found Young University in Utah. easiest and hardest. “I didn’t find out I’d won [the “I think the easiest one was award] until about 2 weeks ago,” Tom probably AP Environmental Science said. “I hadn’t even taken all the tests because there is so much overlap with until I was committed to a college so biology, chemistry and government it didn’t really help with applications.”
•
• • •
Meet with college representatives who visit the school during the fall by obtaining passes in the Career Center. Establish good initial relation with teachers; they will be writing recommendations next year. Make interview appointments for the early fall for potential schools. Begin the search or find a part-time volunteer job or experience related to your career plan. Continue activities begun freshman year such as volunteer jobs, clubs and sports. Focus on solidifying or bringing up your first quarter grades.
Photography students visit Torpedo Factory in Alexandria
With thousands of different genres and subjects to concentrate on, deciding on a photography focus is not easy. This is why the AP Photo students took a field trip to Old Town Alexandria on Oct. 21. The class left to the metro after first period, and after explaining the metro schedule, they departed. They arrived in Alexandria around 11 a.m. and broke into groups. They took the King Street trolleys down to the water, where they took pictures and ate lunch. “It was really casual and laid back,” said Alan Fisher, photo teacher. “The weather was perfect, and the metro went fine.” They then met up and began their tour of the Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center. “It’s a member gallery owned and run by 14 photographers,” Fisher said. “They take turns sitting in for a day talking about their galleries.” The students met at the gallery of Colleen Spenser Henderson, an art photographer specializing in the D.C. cityscape after dark.
fresh soph
junior
• •
• Evaluate your GPA. • Take the Learning Styles Inventory on Family • Get acquainted with the Career Center, open
from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on school days. Connection.
gladys manzur
news briefs
Oakton Drama Scary Story Night will take place at on Oct. 30. A picnic will be held at 6:00 p.m. and the event at 7:00 p.m. Participants must bring their own dinner to the picnic. Paragon Yearbook senior baby ads are due by Oct. 30. Practice ACT/SAT will be held on Nov. 8 for juniors. Boys Soccer Meeting will be held on Wed., Oct. 29, and 2:10 p.m. in room 195. Career Center Open House will be held on
Nov. 11 all day. Parents are welcome to come in at any time. Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery will take place on Nov. 13 in the career center, career interest inventory. Underclass Academic Awards Ceremony will be held on Nov. 19, personal invitation required. Upcoming College Visits
• Oct. 29 - Bowdoin College, Ohio Wesleyan University
• Oct. 30 - College of William and Mary • Oct. 31 - Hobart and William Smith Colleges • Nov. 5 - Suffolk University, Eastern University • Nov. 6 - Elizabethtown College • Nov. 10 - Smith College, University of Rochester, Purdue University • Nov. 13 - Ferrum College • Nov. 17 - Washington and Lee University • Dec. 4 - Ringling College of Art and Design, University of Hartford